Midweek Vacation Day

The Husband and I took today off to collect my prize winning (!) necklace from the OC Fair. We slept in a bit ~ luxury ~ then drove to Costa Mesa where we had breakfast at our fave restaurant, Ruby’s. It always helps to have a coupon. I’m really big on coupons these days!

After our yummy breakfast, we walked it off at South Coast Plaza. When I first moved to Cali, I lived within walking distance of South Coast Plaza when it was in it’s infancy. There were more fields than houses in those days. So I always have a little nostalgia when I’m there. Nowadays, you can walk from the smaller mall to the mother mall via a bridge over Bear St, which is kinda cool. The Husband found some Wall E gee gaws on sale at The Disney Store but was not happy that someone spelled our name wrong:

The big, original South Coast, for you non-SoCal folks, is a pretty hoity toity place. You can find any store ever mentioned on Sex and the City, from Ferragamo to Prada. Some of the store windows virtually sparkle with diamonds, like the misspelled “Carter”, Harry Winston and Tiffany. *sigh* Here’s a beautiful set of doors with lilies of the valley etched into the glass. Gorgeous!

After more walking and browsing in Z Gallery and Barnes and Noble, we headed for the OC Fairgrounds. I tell ya, those folks are very organized and they made my first experience with them groovy. And to my delight, I got a red ribbon! They didn’t display the ribbon when I saw my piece the day we went to the fair, so I was happy to actually have gotten one.



With my necklace and my friend, Teresa’s, scrapbooking entry safely in the van, we stopped at Ikea, where we were not really surprised to find they’re selling houses. Ok, not really. They’ve partnered with a mobile home company to show both the homes and Ikea products in them. Two homes were on display in the parking lot and they were actually quite nice. Here I am on the porch of the bigger one.

So, we had a lovely day, a special, yummy breakfast, got in a lot of walking and were able to spend some quality time together. Even though I dragged him around a chi chi mall, The Husband can always create a good time (see first picture). I’ve promised to go with him to the Palm Springs Air Museum in November, so I can take more pictures of him having a good time!

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OC Fair Adventure, Bear Chick Style

Today, I entered the Orange County Fair for the first time. DUH! I read and reread the instructions and for the life of me, I would swear they said the fair provides the displays for jewelry. *sigh* I actually meant to bring one of my own busts, just in case, but it slipped my mind. So I got there today and realized that, indeed, I needed to supply my own display.

Luckily, I had brought along The Husband and, since we planned to have dinner at Ikea, where I get some of the display props for my show booth, he suggested we look there after dinner for something appropriate. And if we did find something, that would save me having to come all the way back tomorrow.

So, after a dinner of Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes (me) and a turkey wrap and fries (The Husband), we set off to find something to hang an orange, blue and clear necklace from. Pillows, frames and various cooking implements were rejected.

Then, like a miracle (cue the heavenly choir), the very thing I needed caught my eye in the bathroom section. It’s actually a cotton pad holder with three small, graceful legs and an opening with wavy sides. I took off the necklace, overturned the pad holder and voila! The necklace actually frames the opening and, with the chain hung around one of the legs, hangs to the perfect length. One thing I noticed when I was at the Fair was that most of the displays were black velvet. I loved the fact that the pad holder is brushed silver metal, so it will really stand out among the black.

Here are a couple of horrible camera phone pix taken in a rush, but hopefully you’ll get the idea.

I don’t expect to win anything, especially having seen some of the beautiful work there tonight, but I did get a free ticket to the fair and a purple ribbon just for entering! So I’m a pretty happy girl.

Hope you get to the Fair this year~Look for The Beaches of Orange County!

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